Transcript Focus on wetland and coastal systems The crew

Land-use, water management
and biodiversity
Dr Ilya Maclean
Environment & Sustainability Institute, University of
Exeter
[email protected]
Profile of research
• The spatial ecologist that
dabbles in hydrology and
the social sciences
• Impacts of environmental
change on biodiversity
• Solutions-orientated
research (work with policymakers and practitioners)
• Focus on wetland and
coastal systems
The crew
Dr Andy Suggitt
Dr Rob Curtis
Aisling Devine
Owen Greenwood
Dr Jonathan Mosedale
Amanda Scott
Lynda Donaldson
Ross Wheeler
Outline
• Five snapshots of what we
do
• Key areas for future
collaboration
• Opportunities for student
placements and projects
1. Using remotely-derived data to
develop high-res hydrological models
2. Forecasting hydrological conditions
under future climate change
Current (winter)
UKCP09 2050 (winter)
3. Understanding links between landuse and flood risk
4. Guiding wetland restoration
(1) Assess species’ status
(2) Understand species habitat
requirements
(3) Model of management changes
habitat
(4) Implement targeted management
(5) Monitor effects
5. Developing biodiversity indicators
of wetland condition
UK Wetland Bird Survey Alerts:
www/bto/org/webs/alerts
Key areas for future collaboration
Managing catchments to deliver
multiple benefits
• How does land-use /
management affect
biodiversity?
• How does land-use /
management affect e.g. flood
risk
• Can we deliver dual / multiple
benefits though better
management
Key areas for future collaboration
Managing catchments to make them
more resilient to climate change
• Determining likelihood of
hydrological extremes using
probabilistic weather
generators?
• Offsetting adverse effects
through appropriate land-use
and management
• Helping biodiversity / people
cope with climate change
through better management
Key areas for future collaboration
Soft-engineering
• What scope is there for creating
simple run-off attenuation
features?
• Can these features benefit
biodiversity?
• Scope for student projects
involving simple
measurements.
Opportunities for student
placements / projects
In Cornwall:
• c. 200 Ecology / Geography undergradute and 100
MSc students in any given year
• c. Any given staff member supervises c. 4
undergraduate and c. 3 MSc projects .
• Undergraduate projects arranged in June and
carried-out Jul-Mar.
• MSc student projects arranged Nov and carriedout Jan-Jul.
[email protected]